Ray's List is a free news clipping service for the Progressive GLBT and Friends Community. Daily Digests include the links and the first paragraphs from national and international news sent to Ray's List subscribers during the last 24 hours. If a link is missing, contact us at Rays.List@comcast.net and we'll send you the full article.

BSO lieutenant fired over explicit computer imagesThe Broward Sheriff's Office fired a lieutenant after learning he had used his computer to view sexually explicit images.BY AMY SHERMANBroward Sheriff's Lt. James Murray was fired this week for using his computer to access sexually explicit content, among other policy violations. Murray is also at the center of a federal sex-discrimination suit filed by a female Broward Sheriff's Office lieutenant. But Murray's firing was unrelated to that lawsuit, BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal said.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1423978.html/

Signorile ReconsideredCOMMENTARY: Michaelangelo Signorile says gay media watchdog GLAAD is muzzled by the entertainment companies it’s supposed to police, a claim GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios (pictured) says is unfounded. By Jarrett BarriosIn his commentary, “GLAAD Reconsidered,” Michaelangelo Signorile offers a mixture of criticism and claims about the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation that are not supported by the facts. And while criticism is certainly welcome, as it would be from all who we serve in our media advocacy work, the central thesis of Signorile’s piece is incorrect.http://www.advocate.com/Arts_and_Entertainment/Commentary/Signorile_Revisited/

In the thick of it: when fatphobia plays out in politics by: Pam Spaulding In the New York Times, Adam Nagourney has a long profile on under-siege Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, covering his "light-skinned/Negro dialect" dustup, his behind-the-scenes political maneuvers, and his personal life. I'm reading along and then this jumped out at me: By reputation and appearance, Reid, who is 70, is one of the blander elected officials in Washington. Upon closer inspection, he is deeply and deceptively interesting. He is a senator from Nevada who hates gambling ("The only people who make money from gambling are the joints and government"); a backroom deal-maker who does not drink alcohol or coffee; a Washington celebrity who sniffs at the dinner-and-party circuit. "Senator Daschle went to dinner almost every night with someone," he told me. "I go to dinner never, with anyone, during the week." He does find time, at least twice a week, to slip on a pair of black Lycra stretch pants to do yoga with Landra at their apartment in the Ritz-Carlton. He has intolerance for fat people, manifested in asides to aides who seem to be getting portly and an office staff that is suspiciously slim.http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14819/in-the-thick-of-it-when-fatphobia-plays-out-in-politics/

Shannon Minter: Perry v. Schwarzenegger Proceedings, Day 3 by: Autumn Sandeen BLEND EXCLUSIVE: Trial analysis by the National Center For Lesbian Rights' (NCLR's) Shannon Minter. **Update from Daimeon: Click below the fold to see a video blog from Kate Kendell. As other bloggers and news outlets have reported, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a final order today preventing the trial from being broadcast. The 5-4 opinion was unsigned, meaning that its authorship was not attributed to any one justice. The court largely ducked the substantive issue of whether federal trials should be more accessible to a broader public, holding that the San Francisco district court judges had not followed the proper procedures when they amended the local court rules to allow the broadcast. Justices Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito were in the majority.http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/14828/shannon-minter-perry-v-schwarzenegger-proceedings-day-3/

Live Twitter feed of Prop 8 trial: Day 4Filed by: Bil BrowningOur live Twitter feed of the Prop 8 trial has been really popular this week, so I'm bumping it back up to the top to make it handy for Projectors to find. Unfortunately, Davina isn't able to attend the trial today so our inside source is out of commission until tomorrow. With the Supreme Court ruling that cameras will not be allowed at all now, Twitter is your best source for as-it-happens updates. The feed shows all the tweets from people covering the trial live from inside the courthouse. Right now the currently featured tweeters are:• @ellemenohpe• @Chris_Stoll• @NCLRights• @AmerEqualRights• @CourageCampaign• @ACLU_NorCal• @FedcourtJunkie• @TheAdvocateMagThe feed will show you anything the eight of them send out - not just Prop 8 trial tweets. This keeps them a little more human and less "reporter-ish." You might see off-topic tweets occasionally, but think of it as an extra bonus feature! Live stream after the jump. It'll keep going as long as they do.http://www.bilerico.com/2010/01/live_twitter_feed_of_prop_8_trial_day_4.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BilericoProject+%28The+Bilerico+Project%29/

National Institute Of Health To Conduct Unprecedented Study Of LGBT Healthposted by JoeThe National Institute of Health is inviting public comment on an unprecedented planned study of LGBT health issues. An insider writes us on how to help: The Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), has been asked by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct a report on LGBT health. Nothing like this has been done in the past, although IOM did do a report on lesbian health at the end of the Clinton administration. There is a period of public comment between now and Feb 1. People should be encouraged to take advantage of this. Vague comments ("We need more services for gay men") won't have much impact. Data-based comments will help, but commonplace, vivid examples of health disparities affecting LGBT folks may get noticed.There will be face-to-face meetings with opportunities for public participation, but they are likely to be DC-based and the dates have not been announced. The report will be used by NIH for planning purposes. It's likely that other federal agencies (CDC, HRSA, SAMHSA) will take notice of its findings and Congress usually is interested in the outcome of these reports.http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/01/national-institute-of-health-to-conduct.html/

Male-On-Male Sexual Harassment Rises posted by JoeAccording to a Newsweek report, reported incidences of workplace male-on-male sexual harassment are on the rise. The story notes that most of the cases don't arise from flirting gone too far, but from actions meant to sexually humiliate the victim. The EEOC tracks the number of men and women who file claims with the agency, but doesn't always keep track of the gender of the harasser. However, Grinberg confirms that the EEOC has recognized a growing trend in the number of men alleging same-sex sexual harassment. "The classic image of sexual harassment is Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill; it's not two men or even two women," says Dr. Liza H. Gold, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University who serves as an expert in sexual-harassment suits. And yet the experience of men harassed by men may help to illustrate the realities of all such cases. When women are the victims, they may face assumptions that the abuse is the result of an affair gone wrong, hurt feelings, or mixed signals. In truth, sexual harassment of both genders has more to do with issues of control and abuses of power for the purpose of humiliation than with sexual attraction. By exposing the men to taunts about their genitalia, sexually suggestive simulations, and lewd comments, the men perpetrating the harassment are seeking to embarrass and target the male victims—not sexually stimulate or "flirt" with them. http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/01/male-on-male-sexual-harassment-rises.html/

Military Lawyers: Wait On DADT Repealposted by JoePentagon lawyers are recommending at least a year's delay before beginning work on the repeal of DADT. That could push a vote by Congress back until the middle of the 2012 elections, a time when many would be hesitant to support the repeal. "Now is not the time," the in-house legal counsel for Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote recently in a memorandum obtained by The Associated Press. "The importance of winning the wars we are in, along with the stress on the force, our body of knowledge and the number of unknowns, demand that we act with deliberation." Mullen received the conflicting advice this month about whether to move quickly to lift the 1993 ban, and it is not clear what he will recommend to President Barack Obama. Although allowing gays to serve openly in the military was one of Obama's campaign promises, the issue was put on a back burner during his first year in office. Some liberal supporters and several congressional Democrats are pushing for action.http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/01/miltary-lawyers-wait-on-dadt-repeal.html/

Gay Left Smears GOP Senate Hopeful Posted by LibertyDC Below is my op ed published today by the DC Agenda on the smearing of US Senate candidate Scott Brown (R-MA) by the gay left. Next Tuesday, voters in Massachusetts will go to the polls for a special election to replace U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D). Recent polling shows Republican State Senator Scott Brown in a virtual tie with Democrat Martha Coakley. As the polls get closer and closer, Democrats and their allies on the left get more and more desperate. Democrats are unable to defend their record on taxes, spending, the economy, job creation, healthcare or the global war on terror, so instead they predictably turn to smears, distortions and name-calling. The gay left, always willing to do the bidding of the DNC, is attempting to characterize Scott Brown as ‘anti-gay’. This paper ran a headline that blared “Could an anti-gay Republican win Kennedy’s Seat?” The Edge, a New England gay paper, had a similar headline in December, “Anti-gay Mass. Pol Seeks to Succeed Kennedy.”http://www.gaypatriot.net/2010/01/14/gay-left-smears-gop-senate-hopeful/